TOKYO – Nintendo posted a net profit of 135.165 billion yen ($1.24 billion) between April-December 2017, a 31.3 percent year-on-year growth, buoyed by sales of its Switch game console and the games released during the Christmas holiday season, the company said on Wednesday.

Between April-December, the first nine months of the Japanese financial year, the Kyoto-based company recorded an operating profit of 156.462 billion yen, a seven-fold jump over the same period in 2016, the company said in a statement.

During the first nine months of 2017, Nintendo saw net sales of 857.012 billion yen, almost three times more than the sales posted a year earlier.

The Japanese company attributed these results to the good performance of Switch and a substantial rise in Switch game software sales.

“Super Mario Odyssey,” which was released at the end of October, was very successful and sales of the game reached 9.07 million units worldwide, surpassing the 7.33 million sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, launched in April, the company said.

Between April-December, Nintendo sold 12.13 million units of Switch, exceeding Nintendo’s projection of 10 million units for the same period, and remained on track to reach the company’s target of 16 million units for the current financial year.

Total sales of software for Switch, launched in March, rose to 47.10 million units.

Nintendo forecasts an annual net profit of 120 billion yen for the current financial year ending in March, 17 percent more than its earlier estimate.

The Japanese company also expects an operating profit of 120 billion yen during the 2017 financial year, 33.3 percent more than its previous forecast.

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